The meeting room at the Radisson Mart Plaza Hotel was crowded with bureaucrats, commercial fishermen, scientists and schoolchildren, all of them eager to persuade the FWC's eight commissioners to go along with the plan that would create a 151 square-mile sanctuary in the Dry Tortugas, which is about 70 miles west of Key West. Part of the reserve will be in state waters, and the feds needed approval of the FWC to implement restrictions on commercial and recreational fishing, spearfishing and lobstering in those waters.

As it turned out, those in favor of the reserve had nothing to worry about. Commissioner Tony Moss of Miami said it was the high point of his life to be able to get the sanctuary established. Commissioners Barbara Barsh of Jacksonville and Julie Morris of Sarasota expressed similar sentiments.

The only commissioner who expressed some qualms wasn't even there. Edwin Roberts of Pensacola had to leave, but he wrote down some thoughts for his fellow commissioners. Roberts was concerned about commercial fish traps that are in federal waters adjacent to the Tortugas Ecological Reserve. He also wanted to know if the federal government had any plans to manage snapper and grouper fishing outside the Dry Tortugas.

The commissioners then voted 6-0 -- John Rood of Jacksonville also had to leave early -- to hold a final public hearing on the rule at its March meeting. If approved there, then the governor and the Cabinet will approve it, most likely in April.

The reserve is viewed as a way to protect and rebuild fish stocks. An area of the reserve known as Riley's Hump is a spawning ground for snappers and groupers, and coastal currents carry their larvae throughout the Florida Keys and along Florida's Atlantic Coast. The rationale is that by not allowing fishing at Riley's Hump, those snappers and groupers will grow big and produce many more eggs. According to former fisheries biologist Martin Moe, a 5- to 6-year-old grouper produces 5,000-6,000 eggs, while a 12-year-old grouper produces 5 million eggs.

But as Ted Forsgren, the executive director of Coastal Conservation Association Florida, pointed out, what's the point in protecting those fish if they can be caught in nearby fish traps? The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council voted to ban fish traps in federal waters, but the National Marine Fisheries Service rejected that rule. Fish traps will remain in the Gulf at least until 2007.

Forsgren and Jeff Weakley, editor of Florida Sportsman magazine, also questioned the severity of the damage that recreational anglers could do to the fishery as well as why those anglers will be prohibited from catching migratory species such as kingfish and sailfish in the reserve. But as pro-reserve speaker Bill Parks told the commissioners, recreational anglers "have the whole rest of the Keys to catch dolphin, sailfish, snook and tarpon."

In other business, the FWC voted to formally express support for a South Atlantic Fishery Management Council emergency rule that will prohibit long-lining for dolphin in a vast area off Florida that will close to long-lining for swordfish, tuna and pelagic sharks on Thursday. Outside that area, long-liners will be limited to 1,000 pounds of dolphin per trip.

The FWC also directed staff to study issues and management recommendations for sponging in the Keys and agreed to consider some changes in how mullet are managed. Since the 1995 net ban, the state's mullet population has rebounded to sustainable levels.

In Southwest Florida, commercial cast-netters are catching as many pounds of mullet as they did during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons when they used gill nets.

Steve Waters can be reached at swaters@sun-sentinel.com or at 954-356-4648.